Dr Hayley Francies | Senior Staff Scientist

Francies, Hayley

Within the Translational Cancer Genomics group, Hayley's work is focused upon the derivation and use of 3D cancer organoid models for genomic analyses and drug screens to identify novel cancer therapies and genetic biomarkers of drug response.

Much of the work within the Translational Cancer Genomics group has been focused upon the use of our cancer cell line collection to conduct high-throughput drug screens to identify novel therapies and biomarkers of drug response. However, for many cancer types, the cell line collection fails to encompass the genetic breadth of the disease and thus we are investigating novel technologies to expand our cell line collection.

Of particular interest are 3D cancer organoid models. We have conducted a pilot study using this novel cell model to investigate their utility to study colon cancer. A panel of 22 colon cancer organoids were derived from the tumours of 20 patients and we found them to faithfully capture the genomics of the primary tumour as well as much of the genetic breadth of colon cancer. By conducting drug screens with the organoid panel we were able to confirm known clinical gene-drug associations such as the status of KRAS and response to EGFR-targeted agents. Following the success of the pilot study we are now investigating the utility of cancer organoids to research other cancer types including pancreatic and oesophageal cancer.